''Calycanthus'', called sweetshrub, is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Calycanthaceae The Calycanthaceae (sweetshrubs or spicebushes) are a small family of flowering plants in the order Laurales. The family contains three genera and only 10 known species , restricted to warm temperate and tropical regions: * '' Calycanthus'' (thr ...

. The genus includes two to four species depending on taxonomic interpretation; three are accepted by most 21st century sources.

Description

''Calycanthus'' plants are

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

shrubs, growing to tall. The leaves are opposite and undivided. The plants are aromatic. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are typical of the family

in lacking distinct sepals and petals, but instead having spirals of

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s. Flowers are produced from spring onwards, until October in the case of ''C. occidentalis''. The flowers of the two North American species are scented, across, with numerous dark red to burgundy to purplish brown tepals. ''C. chinensis'' has broader tepals, the outer ones white flushed with pink, the inner ones mostly yellow with purple marks at the base. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is an elliptical dry capsule, containing numerous

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. ''C. floridus'' and ''C. occidentalis'' are pollinated by beetles. Their flowers produce small protein-rich growths that feed beetle pollinators. ''C. occidentalis'' has been shown to produce chemicals that mimic fermenting fruits that attract beetles in the families

Nitidulidae The sap beetles, also known as Nitidulidae, are a family (biology), family of beetles. They are small (2–6 mm) ovoid, usually dull-coloured beetles, with knobbed antenna (biology), antennae. Some have red or yellow spots or bands. They fe ...

and Staphylinidae.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Calycanthus'' was created by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1759, with the sole species ''Calycanthus floridus''. In 1762, he added ''Calycanthus praecox'', now treated as '' Chimonanthus praecox''.

Phylogeny and evolution

A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study of the family

found that the three widely recognized species of ''Calycanthus'' formed a monophyletic group. Relationships among the three species differed depending on whether chloroplast or nuclear data was used. A cladogram obtained by combining the two is shown below. The family Calycanthaceae may have had a Gondwanan origin. The sole Australian representative, '' Idiospermum australiense'', would then represent an ancient relic, probably having diverged in the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

. There are no extant South American members of the family, although fossils are known. ''Calycanthus'' may have migrated into North America from eastern Asia, or may have originated in South America, moved northwards and then spread to eastern Asia.

Species

, Plants of the World Online accepted four species: * ''Calycanthus brockianus'' Ferry & Ferry f.—north central Georgia; has greenish rather than brownish red flowers, and may only be a triploid color variant of ''C. floridus''. * '' Calycanthus chinensis'' (W.C.Cheng & S.Y.Chang) W.C.Cheng & S.Y.Chang ex P.T.Li (syn. ''Sinocalycanthus sinensis'')—Chinese sweetshrub, Chinese wax shrub, native to eastern China, with white flowers * '' Calycanthus floridus'' L.—Carolina spicebush, eastern sweetshrub, native to the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

, from New York and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, south through the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, and Mississippi Valley, to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and east to northern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

** ''C. f.'' var. ''floridus'' ( syn. ''C. mohrii'')—eastern sweetshrub; twigs pubescent (hairy) ** ''C. f.'' var. ''glaucus'' (syn. ''C. fertilis'')—eastern sweetshrub; twigs glabrous (smooth). * '' Calycanthus occidentalis'' Hook. & Arn.—California spicebush, western sweetshrub, native to moist habitats of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

below , including in the

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

, and Sierra Nevada. , the Oregon Flora Project documented two specimens in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, marked as "exotic?". ''C. chinensis'' has a confused taxonomic history. It was first described in 1963 as ''Calycanthus chinensis'' by W.C. Cheng and S.Y. Chang, but invalidly because two different collections were both given as

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

s. The authors then described it validly in 1964 in their new genus ''Sinocalycanthus''. In 1979, P.T. Li rejected the genus ''Sinocalycanthus'', and validated the original name ''Calycanthus chinensis''. Calycanthus chinensis 2020-06-23 9533.jpg, ''C. chinensis''–Chinese sweetshrub Calycanthus floridus kz01.jpg, ''C. floridus''—eastern sweetshrub Calycanthus occidentalis-Chico.jpg, ''C. occidentalis''—western sweetshrub

Cultivation

''Calycanthus'' species are cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

s by

plant nurseries A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

, including in the United States and England. ''Calycanthus floridus'' is planted in gardens, as a specimen shrub, or for hedges. The English naturalist

Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the fi ...

drew it as the support for the bird he called "''Garrulus Carolinensis'' The Chatterer" (now '' Bombycilla cedrorum'') in a work published from 1731 onwards. He described the shrub as growing in "remote and hilly parts" and having bark "as odoriferous as cinnamon". The colonial planters of

the Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nor ...

transplanted it into their gardens, and the botanist Peter Collinson described it to

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

and imported it into England from Charleston in the

Province of South Carolina Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...

around 1756. ''Calycanthus occidentalis'' is planted in traditional,

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

, and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibian ...

s, and for

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural land ...

and

habitat restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

projects, primarily in California and the Western United States. It was introduced into cultivation in 1831. ''Calycanthus chinensis'' was introduced into cultivation in both the United States and the United Kingdom from the

Shanghai Botanical Garden The Shanghai Botanical Garden () is a botanic garden located in the southwestern suburbs of Shanghai, China, (around 12 km southwest of the city centre) in the Xuhui District. Covering 81.86 hectares, the garden has a renowned penjing gar ...

in the 1980s. It has since been used extensively in the breeding of

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

Hybridization

Calycanthus raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine', Morris Arboretum 01

X Sinocalycalycanthus Venus - Flickr - peganum (3)

Several hybrids and hybrid cultivars have been produced, with the intention of combining the larger flower size of ''C. chinensis'' with the colour and scent of the two North American species, as well as their greater hardiness. The hybrid between ''C. chinensis'' and ''C. floridus'' has been named ''C.'' × ''raulstonii''. It combines the larger flowers of ''C. chinesis'' with the flower color of ''C. floridus''. The original cross has been given the cultivar name 'Hartlage Wine' after the student, Richard Hartlage, who made the first crosses. Further crosses have been made. 'Venus' involves ''C. occidentalis'' as well. Hybrid cultivars include: *'Aphrodite' (''C. chinensis'' × ''C. occidentalis'') – US; large reddish-purple flowers with yellow marks on the inner tepals, borne on relatively long stalks; long flowering season *'Hartlage Wine' (''C.'' × ''raulstonii'') – US, 1991; resembles ''C. chinensis'' in leaf and flower size, with the flower colour of ''C. floridus''; may reach in height; given the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit *'Hongyun' (''C.'' × ''raulstonii'') – China, 2001; large flowers of ''C. chinensis'' with the red colour of ''C. floridus'' *'Solar Flare' (''C.'' × ''raulstonii'') – US, 2003–2006; similar to 'Hartlage Wine' but with larger and thicker leaves and smaller flowers; appears to be hardier to frost than 'Hartlage Wine' *'Venus' (''C.'' × ''raulstonii'' × 'C. chinensis'' × ''C. occidentalis'' – large white flowers, marked with yellow and purple at the centre; strongly fragrant

Other uses

''Calycanthus floridus'' and ''C. occidentalis'' were both used as a traditional

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

by Native Americans. The

indigenous peoples of California The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...

also used ''C. occidentalis'' in basketweaving and for arrow shafts.

Essential oils

Calycanthus oil, distilled from the flowers, is an essential oil used in some quality perfumes.Groom, N.
The New Perfume Handbook
second ed., Springer, 1997, page 48.

References

External links

CalFlora Database: ''Calycanthus occidentalis'' (spicebush, western sweetshrub)

UC Photos gallery: ''Calycanthus floridus''

UC Berkeley Cal Photos gallery: ''Calycanthus occidentalis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158029 Flora of the Eastern United States Flora of the West Coast of the United States Garden plants of North America Laurales genera Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Calycanthaceae